At the end of last month Stan O’Neal left his position as CEO of Merrill Lynch after allegedly being forced out by his board members following a whispering campaign that alluded to “years of underperformance”.Then at almost exactly the same time Richard Parsons, CEO and Chairman of Time Warner, also announced that he will be stepping down as CEO on New Year’s Eve this year but will remain as Chairman of the Board.
Both act as a reminder that it’s tough at the top.
The coverage in the US newspapers did exactly as it should – reporting that two hugely successful big hitters from global powerhouses had quit after their companies had fallen into difficulty.
In the case of Merrill Lynch they had just announced a third quarter loss of $2.24 billion (the worst in the firm’s 93-year history) and Time Warner has been gripped with operational challenges, mostly revolving around AOL.
It is natural that all eyes should turn to the leader in troubled times and O’Neal and Parsons will not be the last to fall on their swords.
But in the British press the slant has been rather different and a little disappointing. In fact it has been a return to an old fashioned habit of using race as a descriptor.
Over here the talk has been of two African American CEOs resigning; leaving just five black CEOs heading up Fortune 500 companies.
The Times in particular got itself into a little trouble with its online blog by adding the irrelevant fact of O’Neal’s race into their report on his performance.
All it does is fuel the underlying suggestion of “Would the knives have been out so ferociously had the CEOs not been black?”
And the answer to that is - of course they would. It has nothing to do with race; it is all about performance and quality. Both O’Neal and Parsons had brilliant careers and once they got to the top they all but lasted the average length of service for CEOs in the US and Europe - six years.
It was simply time to move on as the fortunes of Merrill Lynch and Time Warner significantly waned at the end of their watch. It’s the only way the best of the best keep ahead of the chasing pack.
Let’s not forget that CEOs from these firms aren’t left penniless, regardless of their race. Sources have confirmed that Stanley O’Neal left Merrill Lynch with about $90 million in stock, $40 million in options and $30 million in pensions and other parts of the package.
$160 million and “retiring” at 56 is not worth shedding too many tears over.
The real truth behind all of this is that race is still a story here in the UK – epitomised by Ian Wright’s row last week with a traffic warden.
The alleged quotes in The Times, Daily Mail and The Sun (amongst others) have told of Wright apparently accusing an African traffic warden of being a “monkey” and none too politely to return “back to his own country”.
Wright’s version of the events are of course very different and he maintains that he was called “a white man who lives in a white man’s road” and that he had responded by asking if the warden’s parents were “happy you’ve come to England to be a traffic warden instead of a lawyer or something”.
Whatever the outcome, these allegations of racial abuse will throw up a conundrum.
If found guilty, will Ian Wright be sanctioned and criticised as heavily as Ron Atkinson who famously quit ITV and The Guardian after comments about a black Chelsea player?
Wright’s race should be irrelevant and if the courts prove that he did say those remarks then he should be punished just as severely as Atkinson.
If it turns out he didn’t racially abuse the warden then it will be yet another example of someone trying to use another’s fame and wealth for their own ends.
My guess is that should the finger of blame point at Ian Wright after his alleged outburst then race will once again prove too hot to handle for the British press.
It always does.
